Christian Watson leads the NFL at 18.2 yards per catch; Drake London is a tenth behind

Christian Watson leads the NFL in yards per reception after five weeks of the 2026 regular season. The Green Bay Packers wide receiver is averaging 18.2 yards per catch on 26 receptions, the best mark among the 46 players with at least 20 catches.

Atlanta’s Drake London is a tenth behind at 18.1 (27 catches, 488 yards). Watson’s teammate Matthew Golden is third at 16.5, giving Green Bay two of the top three. The 46 qualifiers average 11.5 yards per catch as a group. This board measures yards per catch, not total receiving yards or yards after the catch — Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads in total yards with 583 and sits sixth here at 15.8.

Highest yards per reception after Week 5 (minimum 20 catches)

Rank	Player	Team	Pos	Rec	Yds	Yds/rec	Long	TD	Targets
1	Christian Watson	GB	WR	26	474	18.2	81	6	40
2	Drake London	ATL	WR	27	488	18.1	68	0	37
3	Matthew Golden	GB	WR	24	397	16.5	50	2	44
4	Davante Adams	LAR	WR	27	441	16.3	64	4	45
5	Parker Washington	JAX	WR	22	352	16.0	51	4	35
6	Jaxon Smith-Njigba	SEA	WR	37	583	15.8	82	7	49
7	Tee Higgins	CIN	WR	27	423	15.7	29	1	43
8	Zay Flowers	BAL	WR	26	405	15.6	54	2	31
9	Tetairoa McMillan	CAR	WR	26	385	14.8	32	2	39
10	Chris Olave	NO	WR	39	537	13.8	47	1	54
11	Mike Evans	SF	WR	24	326	13.6	28	3	34
12	George Pickens	DAL	WR	27	355	13.1	53	1	41
13	CeeDee Lamb	DAL	WR	39	507	13.0	49	4	51
14	Brock Bowers	LV	TE	24	312	13.0	27	3	34
15	George Kittle	SF	TE	21	268	12.8	56	4	28

Davante Adams (16.3), Parker Washington (16.0), Smith-Njigba (15.8), Tee Higgins (15.7) and Zay Flowers (15.6) round out the top eight. Higgins is the outlier in shape: his 15.7 average comes with a season-long of only 29 yards, so it is built on steady intermediate gains rather than one long score. Brock Bowers leads tight ends on this board at 13.0, just ahead of George Kittle’s 12.8.

Christian Watson game by game

Week	Opponent	Rec	Yds	Yds/rec	Long	TD
1	at Minnesota	6	147	24.5	81	2
2	at NY Jets	4	41	10.3	20	1
3	Atlanta	7	96	13.7	34	1
4	at Tampa Bay	3	47	15.7	18	0
5	Chicago	6	143	23.8	53	2

Watson has two games over 140 yards — 147 at Minnesota in Week 1, including an 81-yard catch, and 143 against Chicago in Week 5 with a 53-yarder. His six receiving touchdowns are second in the league, one behind Smith-Njigba’s seven.

Drake London game by game

Week	Opponent	Rec	Yds	Yds/rec	Long	TD
1	at Pittsburgh	2	29	14.5	21	0
2	Carolina	4	51	12.8	17	0
3	at Green Bay	9	194	21.6	68	0
4	at New Orleans	5	96	19.2	37	0
5	Baltimore	7	118	16.9	25	0

London has averaged at least 16.9 yards per catch in each of his last three games. His 194-yard game at Green Bay in Week 3 included a 68-yard catch, and he has followed it with 96 and 118 yards. Unlike Watson, he has not caught a touchdown pass yet, which is why his average stands out more on this board than on the scoring tables.

10 to 19 catches: the small-sample leaders

Player	Team	Pos	Rec	Yds	Yds/rec	Long
Denzel Boston	CLE	WR	16	330	20.6	60
Tyquan Thornton	KC	WR	11	219	19.9	55
Jaylin Noel	HOU	WR	13	227	17.5	52
Dalton Kincaid	BUF	TE	16	277	17.3	40
Romeo Doubs	NE	WR	13	219	16.8	63
Rome Odunze	CHI	WR	17	273	16.1	47

Cleveland’s Denzel Boston has the highest average of anyone with at least 10 catches: 20.6 yards on 16 receptions, including catches of 55 yards at Tampa Bay and 60 yards against Pittsburgh. Kansas City’s Tyquan Thornton is at 19.9 on 11. Buffalo tight end Dalton Kincaid’s 17.3 on 16 catches is the best among tight ends at any volume above 10.

The catch-count leaders and their averages

Rank	Player	Team	Pos	Rec	Yds	Yds/rec
1	Trey McBride	ARI	TE	42	308	7.3
2	Chris Olave	NO	WR	39	537	13.8
3	CeeDee Lamb	DAL	WR	39	507	13.0
4	Jaxon Smith-Njigba	SEA	WR	37	583	15.8
5	Amon-Ra St. Brown	DET	WR	37	372	10.1
6	Isaiah Likely	NYG	TE	33	284	8.6
7	Garrett Wilson	NYJ	WR	31	374	12.1
8	Puka Nacua	LAR	WR	31	337	10.9

The players with the most catches mostly sit far from the top of this board. Arizona tight end Trey McBride leads the league with 42 receptions at 7.3 yards each. Chris Olave (13.8) and CeeDee Lamb (13.0), tied for second with 39 catches each, are both above the qualifier average. Smith-Njigba (sixth) and Olave (10th) are the only top-five catch leaders inside the top ten in yards per reception.

Watson, Golden and Green Bay host Dallas on Sunday night at 8:20 p.m. ET (3:20 a.m. Monday Cairo). London and Atlanta host Chicago at 1 p.m. ET (8 p.m. Cairo). Boston and Cleveland host Baltimore in the same window.

Yards per reception is receiving yards divided by catches. Totals cover every regular-season game through Monday night of Week 5 and do not include Thursday night’s Seahawks-Broncos game.